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Programming / Quick changes, Huge improvements
« on: April 13, 2015, 10:49:43 PM »
So now I'm pretty deep into development and usually programming simple things can take a long time, but there has been exceptions where huge improvements to the game where done very quickly. I have two on the top of my mind:
1. Main map navigation: I'm making a strategy roguelike, inspired a bit by dwarf fortress in that there is a "base map", where you do most of the gameplay and you have to navigate in it. At first I thought navigation would be super hard to do, but in the end it probably took me less than 30 mins to implement and now I could navigate through the whole map! I was pretty inexperienced in programming at the time compared to now, I improved a lot imo, but even in my noob programmer stage it took me less than 30 mins and map navigation is the first thing that gave me the feeling I was in a game when running my program! Sweet memories.
2. Font for ASCII games: For 80% of the dev time I was experiencing what I call "the blur". When I ran the game, the map was blurry, and I had this feeling like my game looked like crap, which my ego rationalized as non-sense, my game couldnt look like crap it was just because I wasn't used to it right? Well at one point when I finalized the first version of my "Character Sheet" menu, I looked at the first time my game with a lot of text in it, and the blur was still there! I thought the blur would be gone when reading text, but no. So now I thought, if it's blurry even when in mostly text form, it most mean the font itself sucks and not the characters/colors I chose for the actual ascii graphics. Took me 5 mins to find what I was looking for(I'm french so word for font is police in french, I also tried "ascii graphics" and "dwarf fortress graphics"), then I finally found I was looking for a new font, then it took me 10 mins to choose a new font: my only criteria was blurriness. To find blurriness I stood 5 feet from the screen, which maximised character blending and thus the blur, and when I found a font that had almost no blur(plus nifty semi-graphic walls(replacing line and double line characters)) and the actual implementation took me 2 mins(1 min because I forgot to add .png to the file address). Result? My game doesn't look like crap anymore! No blur at all, it even looked good. I had been working hundreds of hours and the biggest improvement I did took me 15 mins, and it's by far the most efficient improvement I've done so far. For reference I was using libtcod 12x12 font(the blur) and changed it to unknown curses 12x12 markvii walls font which can be found in the dwarf fortress wiki font page.
What are your stories about small improvements that drastically improved your games?
1. Main map navigation: I'm making a strategy roguelike, inspired a bit by dwarf fortress in that there is a "base map", where you do most of the gameplay and you have to navigate in it. At first I thought navigation would be super hard to do, but in the end it probably took me less than 30 mins to implement and now I could navigate through the whole map! I was pretty inexperienced in programming at the time compared to now, I improved a lot imo, but even in my noob programmer stage it took me less than 30 mins and map navigation is the first thing that gave me the feeling I was in a game when running my program! Sweet memories.
2. Font for ASCII games: For 80% of the dev time I was experiencing what I call "the blur". When I ran the game, the map was blurry, and I had this feeling like my game looked like crap, which my ego rationalized as non-sense, my game couldnt look like crap it was just because I wasn't used to it right? Well at one point when I finalized the first version of my "Character Sheet" menu, I looked at the first time my game with a lot of text in it, and the blur was still there! I thought the blur would be gone when reading text, but no. So now I thought, if it's blurry even when in mostly text form, it most mean the font itself sucks and not the characters/colors I chose for the actual ascii graphics. Took me 5 mins to find what I was looking for(I'm french so word for font is police in french, I also tried "ascii graphics" and "dwarf fortress graphics"), then I finally found I was looking for a new font, then it took me 10 mins to choose a new font: my only criteria was blurriness. To find blurriness I stood 5 feet from the screen, which maximised character blending and thus the blur, and when I found a font that had almost no blur(plus nifty semi-graphic walls(replacing line and double line characters)) and the actual implementation took me 2 mins(1 min because I forgot to add .png to the file address). Result? My game doesn't look like crap anymore! No blur at all, it even looked good. I had been working hundreds of hours and the biggest improvement I did took me 15 mins, and it's by far the most efficient improvement I've done so far. For reference I was using libtcod 12x12 font(the blur) and changed it to unknown curses 12x12 markvii walls font which can be found in the dwarf fortress wiki font page.
What are your stories about small improvements that drastically improved your games?
), unique in being a fantasy "sim city" and it was made by only 1 guy. I'll start with the similarities. You start on what I call the "base map", this is the map you will build your base on, and it's "similar" somewhat in design with the gameplay of DF where you never leave the map(in DF you never leave the map that is, in my game you'll definitely can). Instead of a dwarf caravan, you start with your single lone Dark Lord. So except the base building(vs fortress digging) and the fact you spawn in a randomly generated map, and the fantasy settings of course, the broad similarities end here. First of all, you won't be digging rooms and there won't be different "Z levels"(I might implement elevation, but this will be implemented as a stat of a tile and not in different z layers). There will be a way to make mines, but you won't have a direct imput on their layout(this is a strategy game after all, while DF is more of a sandbox with a theme)(and also mine layout generation is not a priority at this moment 
). So the main basic gameplay will be making your base and recruiting minions in various ways(I won't elaborate, I want to keep the mystery 
). Let's go into the more crunchy stuff... There will be a world map where you will send your minions on missions, such as trade with other civs, diplomacy, scouting regions to find hidden things, patrolling nearby regions to know if enemy forces are coming to your base and of course INVASIONS! Also, DF had a prob whenever you had too much Dwarves(mostly because of pathfinding), so the way to control this if it ever arise in my game, is that you will be able to send your minions to make camps on the map. You'll send a camp leader and some minions, and there will probably be different kind of camps(goblin camps being one). After all, Sauron's main base was barad dur and there most of it's minions weren't directly near it, they were spread all over Mordor, in many different settlements. Next, the combat. The combat will be turn-based, final fantasy tactics style(!!! I know right?) you will put minions in units, which depending on the size stat of the minion you'll be able to put multiple units in a tile or else they occupy more tiles. The magic system will have many different schools of magic, based on elements. Also, the way npcs will interact with you will be through text-based events, and thats also how diplomacy will work. I find diplomacy bouts in reality often revolves around a single issue or a few issues, and that is handled well in text. Often strategy games shoots a diplomacy screen with many different options, and most often than not that system doesnt work since either the AIs are pushovers or they're psychopaths. Last of all, as a bonus side-game, there will be dungeon-crawling. You'll send a party of minions(you can go too) with different roles, right now I have the spearhead role(the guy who goes first and open doors), the scavenger role(the guy who search for hidden loot and secrets), and the logistic guy(the guy who determines which loot is carried by which minion, since you probably wont want a goblin carrying a very high value item, also his perception stat will be of importance if one of your guys does try to steal something). It will have different floors with combat, traps and special events, also bigger dungeons might divide into branches.